Saturday, June 18, 2011

Glitter in the Haze

Hello!

I hope y'all are enjoying your weekend (sorry, I'm watching Country Strong... and I was born in Virginia, so its kinda a habit) Anyway, tonight I have some pictures of a franken I made a few weeks ago but hadn't tested it yet. I liked the idea of Deborah Lippman's Glitter in the Air, where the pieces of glitter "float" in a sheer polish due to the multiple layers. So after getting WnW Party of Five Glitters, I used a bunch of that to make this franken. The recipe is: about 1/4 bottle of clear (I used top coat and don't recommend using fast drying top coat like I did), about 1/4 bottle of PoFG, about 20 drops of Zoya Zara, about 20 drops of Nicole I'm a Beliber, about 10-20 drops of white, and about 20 drops of Nicole Make a Comet-Ment. I really like the way this came out although the formula is very thick and goopy like white school glue and dries really fast which is a good and a bad thing. Its a good thing because it allows me to layer it quickly without waiting a long time for each individual coat to dry. Its a bad thing because it dries almost as soon as I paint it on, so if I make a mistake, I can't just wipe it off, plus it makes application difficult. Also, the glitter pieces are very difficult to get on the brush and then to transfer enough pieces to the nail. So the application style tends to be similar to the way I apply PoFG on its own; sort of a dabbing type thing.


I didn't use top coat for this because it dried so fast.


Here's an extreme close up done by cropping in iPhoto where I edit. I didn't know I could do this is until now and I really like it. You can see all the pretty sparkle that MaC-M added to it. And the hex glitter shows really well.


Unfortunately, due to the 4 coats I put on, the polish was so thick that I was able to peel it off in sheets literally a few minutes after these pictures were taken, resulting in this:


Also, I cut some beautiful white and pink peonies from my mom's garden. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers, they're just so gorgeous to me. I took some pictures of them and posed a little with them. Enjoy!



This is my favorite




I hope you all liked that and have a great rest of the weekend!

Please comment and follow!

Thanks for looking!

Fiona

Friday, June 17, 2011

Wild Thang

Hello!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday! I know I said in my previous post that I would have pictures of Glitter in the Haze today, but I decided to do a leopard print instead. I know the animal print trend is very popular right now, and many of you are probably sick of seeing leopard print but I'm pretty proud of how this one came out, so I've decided to share it! This is the first time that I have used a dotting tool for the spots and a nail art brush for the "C"s.

I started with 2 coats of Orly Gumdrop, a bright, clean aqua which I really love. Its opaque in 2 but I smudged a few nails before they were dry, so I added a third coat. Then I used a mix of SH XW Lacey Lilac and Nicole I'm A Beliber to get a bright, light purple. IAB is too dark for what I wanted and LL is too light so I made medium color by mixing equal parts of each. It still came out a little lighter than I wanted; I was going for China Glaze Spontaneous. Oh well. Like I said, I used a dotting tool for the "blobs" instead of just using the polish brush. I think the key to making a good-looking leopard print is to space the blobs evenly, and not too close together. I need to work on that... Then, using a weird looking brush with a kink in the top of the handle so its like a bendy straw, which makes painting small details easier, I used WnW Black Creme to make the little "C"s and random dots. I finished with SV, which had some sparkles in it from my 3 AM franken so thats the greenish sparkles you can see.

Crappy indoor picture, but color accurate.


Outdoor, under cloudy skies, minutes before it started raining!


My nails look so much longer and nicer to me but then when I see pictures, they look stubby and gross... because macro picks up all the imperfections in the polish, like bumps and tiny chips, as well as in my skin. I guess you'll have to trust me that my nails look really good (to me) IRL.



My nails also match my outfit today, an aqua t-shirt from Aeropostale and a purple cami underneath. Gumdrop actually matches exactly with my shirt but the purples are different.

This is blurry, its hard taking a photo at this angle, but it shows the colors accurately.


Here's a clearer picture but the colors don't look as accurate due to the indoor lighting.


TGIF!! (I want to go out to eat at Friday's now...) I'll be back with another post tomorrow!!

Thanks for looking! Please comment and follow!

Fiona

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I'm Back!

Hello!

Yes, I'm back from my little unscheduled break! I'll try not to go MIA again but can't promise anything. Ironically, I should be back and able to report feeling great but I have actually taken ill today. My family is sick as well so we're thinking its a virus of some kind. My mom, brother, sister and I are all experiencing stomach flu issues (I'll spare you the details) as well as a fever, dizziness and fatigue. So I'm really feeling like crap right now.

So, all that aside, I have some pictures of the manis and pedis that I remembered to take pictures of while I was away.

First is a mani I did a while ago (I honestly don't remember when) with Sinful Forget Now and Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat Fractured Foil. Forget Now is a magenta glass fleck jelly very similar to China Glaze Ahoy! and 108 Degrees as well as the new OPI Be A Dahlia Will You? from the Nice Stems collection. Oh yes, I have done my homework on this one!! I am still convinced this is a dupe of one of the above but since no one has done a really good comparison of them and I don't own any of them... I'll just have to speculate. 



These pictures really don't accurately capture what Forget Now really looks like. Its most like the bottle in the first picture, but thats still too red due to these crappy indoor flash pictures. I'll have to take some sunlight pics of this by itself.

Here's a pedi I did last week with Zoya Faye. I didn't think I would like this on my toes because I don't really like it with my skin tone, but I ended up loving it! I even discovered I have shoes that perfectly match this, but forgot to get a picture of them. The sad part is that I have soooo many pairs of shoes, that I was able to "discover" a pair that I own... I seriously have around 25 pairs of shoes and only wear about 4.


This is Nicole Make A Comet-Ment, a fine holo glitter. Holo fans, check this one out!! Its a scattered holo but its still awesomeness in a bottle! I have 3 coats pictured here, but if you do less than you can get a subtler look with the base color showing more. This is over Wet n' Wild Black Creme (best black EVER!!)


I mean, look at that bottle!! That is closer to what this actually looks like with top coat. I didn't wear any top coat with this because my bottle of SV is reaching its last days and I desperately need a replacement bottle. I saving it for slow drying polishes and nail art. This dries very quickly but does leave a the typical gritty glitter finish.

Here's a blurry picture to show the holoness!


Ba-BAM!! Now thats awesome! Get this one if you can, I always see it at Target! I mean it, you need this! You have to see it in person!


As you can see on my pinkie, its only holo in certain lights but thats due to the lack of top coat. Without top coat and in normal lighting (not sunlight) it kinda looks like static or white noise/snow on an old TV set set. But get it in the sun, it'll blind you!

Last, this is my latest franken. I have officially caught the frankening bug and have made quite a few.


I named it 3 AM. The story behind this is, I was doing my nails at around midnight, as usual, and was doing leopard print with Orly Its Up to Blue and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. Its Up to Blue is a foily, metallic bright teal. I did the spots with IUtB over FLC and realized it created a mermaid-y, mettallic greenish-teal reminiscent of Zoya Charla and its many dupes. So, in a stroke of genius, I got out Sinful Love Nails, which I discovered was an almost exact dupe of IUtB, and Zoya Ivanka, from the same collection as Charla and basically the green version. Next, I needed an empty polish bottle. So, after looking through my stash at polishes that I never wear and don't like and picked up Wet n' Wild Raincheck. It was 99 cents and I realized that I don't like it, since its a grayed out periwinkle frost, so I emptied it out and rinsed the bottle a few times with acetone. Then I emptied about half of my bottle of Love Nails into the empty WnW bottle and added a bunch of Ivanka, tearing up because I was using up one of my precious Zoyas. After adding and shaking and adding and shaking, I ended up using half of my bottle of Ivanka (*tears up*) By the time I was done, it was 3 AM, so that was its name.


Unfortunately, these pictures aren't showing what this truly looks like. The color is less saturated and there's more sparkle in it. The addition of Ivanka, created a really awesome gold sparkle. The sparkle is not as dense as it is in the Zoya Sparkles so it doesn't create a foil look. But its there, I swear, just not showing up at all on film.


I am in LOVE with this polish, it has almost quenched my lemming for Charla (or one of the dupes) and I know it really doesn't look like it here, but in real life, this polish is quite close to Charla. I have been wearing this for the past 3 days (which is very unusual for me) with no tip wear (I did use SV since it dries slow) and still love it just as much and am not sick of it yet!!


For my next post, I will have pictures of my other franken which I decided to call Glitter in the Haze. Its a lilac version of the Lippman Glitter in the Air, or close to it and I love it!

Finally, here's my pedi that I did a few nights ago.






The colored stripes are done with my striper brush on a base of SH XW Green With Envy (lime green) and I won't list all the colors but there is dark blue, teal, pink and orange. Then a day later, I added the daises with a dotting tool. My pinkie toe is not painted with the stripes because its too small to get more than 2 colors on it and I thought, at the time, it wouldn't be noticed, but now I see that it kinda sticks out as not being striped. Oh well.

I hope you guys enjoyed this and thanks for looking!! I hope to be back to posting regularly!

Fiona

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I'm a BAD Blogger...

Hello!

Yeah... long time, no hear from me, huh? I'm sorry. I've been having a very unmotivated summer so far and while I don't want to bombard you with whiny emo personal problems... let's just say I'm not really feeling like myself. I took an impromptu break from nail blogs for the last week or so and just spent 4 hours reading a week of back-logged posts. And now I feel guilty for not having something new to show you guys. I have been painting my nails (of course) and been taking pictures so eventually I will post some manis. Right now, I'm just kinda in a rut and feeling very blah and down in the dumps. I've been on practically a nocturnal schedule since I have no job and nothing to do during the day.

So, long story short, I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger and I hope to be back soon!

:(

Fiona

Monday, June 13, 2011

It FINALLY Came!

Hey everyone!

I know that I haven't posted in quite a while, but like I said before working full-time can really suck. But I finally found the energy to do a post!

Last month I had ordered a bottle of OPI Silver Shatter from Amazon.com and it never came in the time frame Amazon said it would. Guess what was waiting for me in the family mailbox yesterday? My bottle of Silver Shatter. It took a MONTH for me to get the damn thing! And it had obviously had been delivered to my school mailbox before it came to my house since my house address was slapped over my school one. Epic mail fail seller I bought Silver Shatter from on Amazon or postal service. It's just like the time I was eight and my Mom got one of those Members only Beanie Babies back when they were all the rage; it took SIX MONTHS for that package to come. This wasn't as bad as the beanie baby package, but I was still pretty mad at the fact that this was something I should have gotten in 3-4 days of buying and it took 4 weeks to get it.

But as soon as I got it I had to play with it! I'm glad I didn't buy Fractured Foil at Walgreens now since I got my bottle of Silver Shatter in the mail!





I had yet to use my new bottle of Zoya Tart yet so I decided to put it on. I love this blue! It's a bright sapphire blue shimmer that went on smooth. If I wasn't a Zoya addict before, I am now! This was three coats before I added the Silver shatter to it. I put the Silver Shatter over Tart after it was fully dry. I've heard from other bloggers that it's best over tacky polish, but I think it worked just fine over dry polish. I'm not sure if it's because this was a Zoya polish or not, but if it is it's another reason to love Zoya! I love how this came out, and I feel that this is a good manicure for high school graduations in which the school colors are blue and silver/white like my high school was. So congrats Class of 2011, good luck in your future endeavors! Silver Shatter over Zoya Tart is an awesome look in which to receive your diploma with.

Speaking of Zoya, they're having another promo this week! here's the detailed press release:


MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2011


LIMITED QUANTITY - ACT NOW - FREE IVANKA and CHARLA with ANY* Purchase!


LIMITED QUANTITY - Sparkle this Summer with Zoya Ivanka and Zoya Charla


Zoya Nail Polish wants your nails to sparkle this summer! For a limited time get Zoya Ivanka and Zoya Charla FREE with any** purchase at Zoya.com. These sparkling nail polish colors are perfect for summer! Why choose one over the other when you can get BOTH! 

Here's How it works! 
Go to Zoya.com. Pick our any non-spoon item to purchase. Add that item to your cart. Then enter the code: ZOYASPARKLE (You must enter the code). Proceed with checkout! This offer is only valid while supplies last. ACT NOW!

*Online only, cannot be combined with any other offer, promotion or coupon. US ONLY. While supplies last or until Thursday June 16, 2011at 11:59 PM EST. Offer good for 1(one) free bottle of open stock (.5 oz) Zoya Charla and 1(one) free bottle of open stock (.5 oz) Zoya Ivanka with the purchase of any NON-SPOON ITEM. Code: ZOYASPARKLE must be entered in order to obtain discount. Art of Beauty Inc. will not honor promotions that are submitted after promotion has ended - No exceptions. No exchanges. No returns. Worst case scenario please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Comments, videos and pictures posted about this Zoya Nail Polish Offer outside of Zoya.com or zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com are not representative of the opinions of Zoya Nail Polish, Art of Beauty, Inc., Qtica and Qtica Smart Spa and we do not confirm the accuracy of any postings. Customers are responsible for maintaining active accounts. If username or password have been lost we (Art of Beauty, Inc.) are not responsible for restoring accounts or giving out any account information. S/H not included.

**Offer only good for 1(one) free bottle of Zoya Ivanka and One free bottle of Charla with the purchase of any NON-SPOON item.


I already have Ivanka, but I really wanted Charla even though I have OPI Catch Me In Your Net which is a dupe for Charla, but it was two free polishes! I couldn't resist! But now this means I can wear Ivanka more since I'll have another bottle now, hehe! I also ended up getting Faye, Rica, Julieanne, Emme, Sooki (yes Sooki! I wanted her soo bad for a while now!), Anchor Base Coat, Armor Top Coat, and four spoons in Gilda, Lisa, Karina, and Ginessa. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm now a Zoya addict, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Hope that you all are having a good start to your week and if any of you are still in school, good luck!

-A

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Everybody's Working For The Summer

Hey everyone!

I know that I haven't posted in quite a while, and that's because now that school's out, I'm pretty much working full time again. Also the other thing is is that I work at a machine shop where I assemble parts for pumps, medical tools, military stuff, etc. I also have to use a lot of acetone to clean a lot of these parts so my manicures have been wicked simple and colors I've already worn since I don't want the acetone to eat through the TWO gloves I wear over my hands to seep in and eat away at a good manicure. This happened to my poor Zoya Isla mani (which I will try to post pics of this weekend) and the thumb, index, and middle finger on my right hand got eaten away due to acetone seeping through. So until I go on vacation next month or have time during the week, there won't be many weekday posts until August when I go back to college with Fiona.

So I just want to say sorry for not posting this earlier, and I hope to still hear from all of you guys on the weekends.

-A

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Why I Don't Need the OPI Pirates Collection

Hello!

Happy Saturday! This post is about a discovery I made at Wal-Mart on Thursday... its... Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Fractured Foil!!!


They've been sold out from the 2 Walgreens' that I've visited, but when I was in Wal-Mart on Thursday, there was a brand new SH display, with the nail strips with the patterns (I can't think of what they're called...) the Crackles and the XWs. The Crackles were $6.24 each which is a little less expensive than Walgreens where they were either $6.99 or $7.99, I can't remember. I wanted to get Vintage Violet as well but since I am flat broke, I haven't found a job yet and have spent all my birthday money, I'm now relying on my parents for money like a 10 year old. :P So, my mom only let me get one, so of course I picked Fractured Foil. I soon as we got out to the car, I immediately put in on over my current mani, OPI Ink, and love love loved it! It crackles much better than the Fuchsia Shock does. :) After some experimenting, I found that this crackles the best over tacky polish in thin coats. And then when we got home, I put on alternating Orly Gumdrop and OPI A Grape Fit! which Amanda tested against Planks A Lot, and they looked very dupey to me.


I need to clean off my AGF! bottle... and I should shook them both before taking a photo... whooops. Anyway, I'd read in a few people's post about the Pirates collection, that Essie Turquoise and Caicos was dupey to Mermaid's Tears, but not dusty. This is okay with me, since I prefer bright over dusty. I would have used T&C, but I HATE how sheer it is since its sort of a jelly, so Gumdrop seemed very similar to me... I'll do a comparison if anyone's interested... and it covers pretty well in 1 coat, but I use 2. I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of my nails before the silver... It was kinda messy and I hate wasting my Konading acetone for cleanup. :P


Please ignore my index finger. I've been having issues with rough and peeling skin there and have been moisturizing, even though its pretty warm and humid out. I also recently broke that nail and the polish peeled off when I broke the nail. I've been having BAD SV peeling issues. This was on the first day of the mani that I broke the nail, so I just redid just that nail that night because I loved this so much, I wanted to wear it for more than one day. So the rest of my nails are after 2 days of wear and they look pretty good except for a small chip on my middle nail. I don't know how some people can wear polish for more than one day with it still looking good. I've never been able to keep my mani looking good for more than 24 hours. I don't understand this!!


I think this looks similar, if not exactly like Mermaid's Tears, Planks A Lot and Silver Shatter, and those 3 colors are the only ones I was interested in, except now I find myself wanting Stranger Tides because I have nothing like it in my collection. I am very happy with how this came out and I feel like I'm wearing the Pirates collection! I keep repeating to myself You do not need the Pirates collection, you do not need the Pirates collection... I think it may work since OPI is mostly unavailable to me unless I order it online. Although I recently discovered that its sold at the JCPenny salon and they had 2 from the Katy Perry collection on sale for $4.25. Maybe, eventually, the Pirates collection will go on sale there and I can pick up the actual Silver Shatter and Stranger Tides for cheap. Otherwise, the OPIs there are $9 and they do have some of the newer collections. They did have a Pirates display but all the Silver Shatter was gone. They also, surprisingly enough, had Black Shatter and the Texas collection but like I said, I'm broke. No OPI for me.

Here's a few more pictures of this,




Sorry for the ugly chip...


I loved the look of it with Gumdrop so much, I put it on my toes...


As always, I don't suggest clicking to enlarge the pedi picture. Its really messy and painted over hot pink with glitter... this:


Sinful Pink with WnW Kaleidoscope, not sure why it looks orange here...

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this and suggest to everyone to check their Wal-Mart for the Fractured Foil. It won't disappoint!!!

Have a great day/night and thanks for looking!!

P.S. I hope you guys aren't sick of crackle yet because I have a lot more combinations I want to try with this one... *evil grin*

Fiona